【推荐1】Maria Rose Belding grew up working in the food bank in her community (社区) to help the poor. As she grew older, Belding knew that feeding the hungry wasn’t as easy as it should be. The food bank was filled with some foods but was short of other truly needed foods.

In 2009, when she was 14, the food bank got lots of bread that was more than the community could use. And she saw how difficult it was to find other communities that could take it. At the same time the food bank was short of cheese.

Months later, she had to throw away hundreds of boxes as people in other communities might wait in line for food.

Belding had found two problems about food that still troubled the US. More than 40 million Americans don’t have enough food to eat while up to 40% of the country’s food is wasted (浪费).

In high school, she had an idea for an online platform (平台) that could help with both problems. But she wasn’t able to make it work.

About nine months later, with the help of her friend, she successfully created MEAN’S. It is a free online platform that can help to send food to people in need.

Since 2015, MEAN’S has helped to make sure that more than 1.8 million pounds of unwanted food get to hungry Americans.

【推荐3】Terry from Kenya has spent 20 years in the city he now calls home. Having lived in Beijing for more than 20 years, Terry has finally made his Chinese dream come true—becoming a volunteer.

He often gives tourists directions, gets water for a baby and even helps a neighbor sell cold drinks. “I like helping other people,” he said. “This is where I live, where my friends are and where I call home.” Terry became interested in Chinese culture as a teenager when he read the Tao Te Ching by Laozi.

In 1981, he went to Shanghai. His first visit to Beijing was six years later on business. Terry and his family moved to Beijing in 1997, and since then he has lived and worked in Beijing. Now Terry can make traditional noodles, and when he goes to a restaurant, he usually orders dumplings and some traditional Beijing dishes.

He likes chatting (聊天) with people there, especially taxi drivers. “I am more familiar with the lives of taxi drivers than most Beijingers,” he said. “When I see their license numbers, I can tell how many years they have worked.” “They are so knowledgeable,” he said. “I learned many Chinese from them.”

Terry does not want to leave Beijing. He said, “Your home is where your things are. In this sense, Beijing is my home. Now I just enjoy living here.”

【推荐1】No one wants to be in a life-or-death situation. However, if you are getting into such a dangerous situation, what will you do, fight or flight?

When 13-year-old Joe Rowlands and his dad were in a kayak (皮艇) accident, the brave teenager chose to fight. He not only fought for his own life, but also saved his father’s.

On that day, Joe and his father Paul were out on their kayak off the coast of Anglesey in the UK. Suddenly they noticed that the kayak was starting to fill with water. Then they found out there was a hole in the floor of the boat. Without another choice, Paul turned the boat over. He asked Joe to climb on top so that he could push the boat to a nearby island.

However, the rough (汹涌的) waves made it too hard for Paul to push the boat to land. They had to swim without the boat. Luckily, Joe made his way to the island safely. But when he looked back, he found his dad was no longer swimming. Risking his life, Joe jumped back into the cold water and managed to drag (拽) his dad up onto some rocks. Then Joe did CPR (心肺复苏) on his dad until he came around.

“I’m very proud of him. He acted with courage.” Paul said of his son.

【推荐2】Mr. Black works in an office. Usually he gets to work on time. One day, when he has lunch, a friend comes to visit him. They are very happy and talk a lot. Then they look at the clock on the wall. It is time to go to office. He has to say goodbye to his friend and leaves. It is raining hard and the streets are wet. He drives so fast, and so he can’t see the red lights. And he can’t stop his car and hits a car in front of his. An old man gets off and calls out angrily, “What are you doing? Do you want to kill me?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” says Mr. Black. “I don’t find the lights turn red.” Then he brings out a bottle of wine and gives it to the old man.

“It’s very cold today, sir,” says Mr. Black. “Please drink a little, then you’ll be warmer.” The old man drinks some wine and becomes happy. “I’m feeling much better now. Why don’t you drink any?” he asks.

“I can’t drink anything now, sir,” answers Mr. Black. I’m waiting for (等候) the policeman to come. Only drunkards (酒鬼) make accidents (车祸), you know!”

【推荐1】Liam Garner was just 17 years old when he started out on his adventure—a 32, 000-kilometer bike trip. In early January, he finally finished his trip, 17 months after he started.

After Liam graduated from high school, he wondered what it would be like to bike from the point farthest north in the United States all the way to the most southern point in South America. And Liam set out from Alaska on August 1st, 2021. He had a tent, a sleeping bag, a phone, and some spare parts for his bike. Other than some food and water, he didn’t have much else.

At first Liam’s parents weren’t too happy about him taking such a long bike trip by himself. But as he carried on, his parents became his strongest supporters.

Liam wasn’t too worried about the path that he took. “As long as I was going south every day, I was going in the right direction, “he said. By early December, he had reached Mexico.

Liam met challenges in Mexico. He was robbed (抢劫) there. At one point, he considered forgoing because the hot weather made biking very difficult. But things cooled down once he reached Central America, and he decided to keep going.

In all, he was robbed five times on the trip. He got very sick more than once. In Colombia, he had a bike accident that left him injured. In spite of it all, he kept going, through rain, sun, heat, cold, deserts and mountains.

Liam finally arrived in Ushuaia (乌斯怀亚), Argentina on January 10th, 2023—527 days after he started. He had traveled through 14 countries along the way.

When he gets home, he hopes to write a book about his adventures. He also hopes his experience will encourage others. He says, “The most important thing is getting the confidence in yourself. “

【推荐3】Decide to Do Well

Everybody makes decisions in daily life. They can be as important as what you will do in the future or as simple as what you will eat for breakfast. Any decision could be the turning point of your life.

I made an important decision when I was in Grade 9.

Before I made that decision I was one of the boys who tried too hard to act as an adult. I didn’t know that only kids want to show themselves as adults.

I didn’t listen to my parents and teachers, and my grades became poor. Then came the high school entrance exam.

At the turning point of my life, my mom wanted to have conversation with me. I wanted to turn it down but when I looked at her eyes. I felt I couldn’t refuse. Instead of asking me to study hard, to my surprise, Mom just asked what I wanted to do in the future. Without thinking too much, I just said I would like to study hard.

Mom smiled and asked again: “I asked: what do you want to do?”

I never seriously thought about the question. So I kept silent.

“Whether you want to go on studying or enter society,” she went on, “it is your own decision. Your life ought to be decided by you, not by anyone else, including me.” After saying that, she had tears in her eyes.

For the first time in my life I was asked to make my own decision. I sat in my chair and thought about myself, my life and what kind of person I wanted to become.

It took me what seemed to be ages to make the biggest decision so far in my life-I wanted to be a man who makes a difference to the world. To achieve that, I needed to study hard.

The path to my future became clear to me. I didn’t act rebelliously(叛逆地) any more. With passion(激情) in my heart, I studied hard.

Now, I’m 17. I’m in one of the best schools in my city, and in one of the best classes at the school and I am one of the best students in the class.

Thanks to that decision. I have become what I am today.